Are you or have you been a victim of false advertising, or has your client? Consider these laws designed to protect you from false or misleading statements made as an inducement for your insurance business (which includes among other things life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance, annuities and structured settlement annuities.)
NY Penal Law § 190.20 (McKinney 1999) provides: A person is guilty of false advertising, when, with intent to promote the sale or to increase the consumption of property or services, he makes or causes to be made a false or misleading statement in any advertisement . . .
NY Insurance Law § 2123. Misrepresentations, misleading statements and incomplete comparisons. (a) (1) No agent or representative of any insurer or health maintenance organization authorized to transact life, accident or health insurance or any annuity contract or health maintenance organization business in this state and no insurance broker, and no other person, firm, association or corporation, shall issue or circulate or cause or permit to be issued or circulated, any illustration, circular, statement or memorandum misrepresenting the terms, benefits or advantages of any policy or contract of life, accident or health insurance, or any health maintenance organization contract, delivered or issued for delivery or to be delivered or issued for delivery, in this state
Note that on the Federal level relief may be granted to both consumers and competitors of the violator.
Lanham Act
The Lanham Act is a federal statute that gives parties a private remedy for false advertising claims. To establish a violation under the Lanham Act, consumers and competitors must prove the following: (1) the advertiser made false statements of fact about its product; (2) the false advertisements actually deceived or had the capacity to deceive a substantial segment of the target population; (3) the deception was material; (4) the falsely advertised product was sold in interstate commerce; and (5) the party bringing the lawsuit (known as the "plaintiff") was injured as a result of the deception. Actual loss is not required to show an injury. All that is needed is a reasonable basis for the belief that the plaintiff is likely to be damaged as a result of the advertising.
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